Originally Posted by
a700hitter
I don't think professional golfers are any different from other professional athletes when it comes to handling pressure. Golf may be the toughest game of all. If you don't start young, you can just never be a big tour player. World class athletes from other sports have tried to get on the tour. I can't think of any that have succeeded to any significant extent. The number of golfers on the PGA Tour is a lot smaller than the number of MLB players. Golfers have been tested through high pressure situations just as much as MLB players and there is no reason to think that they aren't just as mentally tough as athletes in other sports.
Golf may be the most robotic of all sports, because the ball is not moving like in other sports. The golf stroke is one honed through repetition more so than other sports, because the stroke is the whole sport. There is no defense, no base running, no fielding skills that have to be mastered.
The fact that in baseball you are competing against a pitcher and not a stationary ball does muddy the waters on this issue. Both competitors (pitcher and batter) might be completely calm and performing up to his abilities. Both might be choking, but it would be hard for an observer to tell, because they are still really good even when choking. Rest assured the player who is choking knows it, but they will never admit it and give their opponent an edge.